Roll-on applicator

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a roll-on applicator with a filling opening and a dispensing opening which prevents leakage or spillage without the need of the cooperation of a cap. This container comprises ball (3) and a flexible and resilient support means (4) for said ball. Said flexible and resilient support means urges said ball against said dispensing opening, achieving a leak-tight engagement between said ball and said dispensing opening. Furthermore, said flexible and resilient support means can be resiliently deformed by an external force acting on said ball to disengage said leak-tight engagement between said ball and said dispensing opening, allowing said contained product to be spread by said ball.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a roll-on applicator. The roll-onapplicator according to the present invention is particularly adaptedfor pretreatment of fabrics with a portion of liquid detergent.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Roll-on applicators are well known in the art. Usually, said applicatorsare containers comprising a hollow body for liquids, a ball and aretaining support means for said ball. These roll-on applicatorsgenerally allow to apply a liquid film from the inside of the hollowbody to a selected surface. The common problem of these is to avoidleakage or spillage of the contained liquid during the periods ofnon-use of said roll-on applicators. The prior art solves this problemusing the cooperation of a cap. Indeed, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.3,036,328, U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,494, U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,495, U.S. Pat.No. 4,475, 837 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,051, 017, the ball is forced toengage and bear against a sealing surface of said retaining supportmeans when the container is closed by the cap. But this solution toavoid leakage or spillage is inconvenient, if the above retainingsupport means with the ball is located under the level of the content.Indeed, leakage or spillage may occur during the operation of unscrewingthe cap. For this reason, the roll-on applicator of the prior artusually has the retaining support means for the ball on top of thecorresponding container above the level of the content when saidcontainer is stored in its upright position.

EP-A-0 575 714, for example, describes a circular-sectioned applicatorrotating about the axis defined by opposite pins engaged in the rim ofan orifice. The liquid detergent has to be poured through the orificebefore being intercepted by said applicator. Therefore, leakage orspillage is prevented only by the fact that said orifice is locatedabove the level of the contained liquid detergent. This example showsthat in the art of roll-on applicating means exists the need of aleakage- or spillage-free solution ensured without a cap.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a container with aroll-on applicating means which is leak-tight when the cap is off orwhen said container does not comprise a cap and when the liquid is abovesaid roll-on applicating means.

Another disadvantage of the roll-on applicators of the prior art isgiven by the fact that the spread quantity cannot be increased. Instead,the prior art only teaches a decrease of said spread quantity. Indeed,the roll-on applicating means described in the above mentioned prior artcan force the ball to engage and bear against a sealing surface of saidretaining support means to decrease or stop completely the flow of thecontent on said ball. The inverse is never possible. On the contrary, anincreased spread quantity is useful especially during pretreatment.Indeed, different stains may need a greater amount of liquid detergentfor a more effective pretreatment. For example, stains made of certainconstituents may need a greater quantity of detergent to get a morethorough and effective pretreatment. A greater quantity may also beneeded to simply cover the dimension of the stain itself.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide acontainer with roll-on applicating means allowing to increase theproduct flow from the interior.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a container (10) adapted to contain anddispense a product. Said container comprises a hollow body (1), adispensing opening (2), a ball (3) and a flexible and resilient supportmeans (4) for said ball. Said flexible and resilient support means urgessaid ball against said dispensing opening, achieving a leak-tightengagement between said ball and said dispensing opening. Said flexibleand resilient support means can be deformed in a resilient manner by anexternal force acting on said ball whereby said leak-tight engagementbetween said ball and said dispensing opening is disengaged, allowingsaid contained product to be spread by said ball.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIGS. 1a and 1b show a container (shown partially) with an embodiment ofthe flexible and resilient support means for a ball according to thepresent invention in a cross sectional view.

FIGS. 2a and 2b show containers (shown partially) with other embodimentsof the flexible and resilient support means for a ball according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates the top view of the embodiment of the flexible andresilient support means for the ball of FIG. 2b.

FIG. 4 illustrates the embodiment where the ball of FIGS. 2b and 3 ispart of a dosing and dispensing device also adapted for pretreatment offabrics.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention is shown in a cross sectionalview in FIG. 1. The present invention provides a container (10) (onlypartially shown in FIG. 1) adapted to contain and dispense a product.The word "container" encompasses any form and/or type of containerscomprising a hollow body (1) and a dispensing opening (2). For example,bottles, tubes, dosing and/or dispensing devices are containersaccording to the definition of the present invention. Said dispensingopening (2) of container (10) may be closed by a cap. The hollow body(1) of the container may be made of a rigid, soft or flexible material.Soft or flexible materials may be preferred to allow squeezing of thehollow body itself for a further controlled dispensing through theopening. Specifically for dosing and/or dispensing devices, said hollowbody may be preferably made of a material resistant to water,temperature (up to 95° C.).

Specifically, said dosing and/or dispensing devices are adapted forpretreatment of fabrics, like, for example, the one described in WO92/09736 and/or WO 92/09736. Usually, said dosing and/or dispensingdevice adapted for pretreatment comprises a further opening which allowsthe filling of this device. When this device is put inside the washingmachine with the fabrics, said filling opening also allows thedispensing of the content into the wash liquid of the machine during thewash cycle. The filling opening is usually located on the top of saiddosing and/or dispensing device when said device is in its uprightposition.

A partially or completely transparent hollow body (1) is a preferredoption to allow the user to verify the quantity of the content andfacilitate measuring and dosing with dosing and/or dispensing devices.As another preferred option, said hollow body may further comprise atleast one dosing line on the external and/or internal surface of saidhollow body (FIG. 4, 11). Preferably, said container is made of aplastic material, such as, for example, polypropylene, polyethylene,polyurethane or polyvinyl chloride.

The container (10) may be adapted to contain liquid substances.Preferably, said product is a liquid detergent. According to the presentinvention the liquid detergent may comprise any ingredients known in theart. Such ingredients may include surfactants, suds suppressors,bleaches, chelants, builders, enzymes, fillers and perfumes.

An essential feature of the present invention is a ball (3). Said ballis located partially inside said hollow body (1) at the dispensingopening (2), i.e. said ball protrudes at last partially from saiddispensing opening. The dimensions of said ball and said dispensingopening are tuned to each other so that the ball is not normally able toescape through said dispensing opening to the exterior of said hollowbody. In use, the content of said container is spread by said ball,since said ball is always in communication with the content of saidcontainer (10). In use, part of the content gets in contact with saidball and is then applied onto a surface outside said container byrotation of said ball.

Said ball (3) may be hollow or solid, and may have a generally smoothouter surface or may have an outer surface having some degree ofroughness. Said ball may be made of an open or closed celled structure.Preferably, said ball is rigid. The use of a spherical ball permits anomnidirectional spreading, since a spherical ball will rotate in anydirection with equal efficacy. Other shapes of said ball may beutilized, such as, for example, cylindrical or ellipsoidal. But suchshapes may present functional limitations in that balls of that shapeswill only generally rotate about a single axis. Preferably, the presentinvention uses spherical balls to allow an omnidirectional spreading. Wefound that this feature is particularly useful to achieve an accurateand comfortable spreading of liquid detergent during pretreatment,regardless of the patterns of stains. On the contrary, if the ball waslimited to rotate around one axis, the user would be obliged to performcomplicated movements with his hand, like twisting the wrist. Thespreading with an omnidirectional rotating ball is also bettercontrolled, and therefore avoids waste of liquid detergent, since it iseasier to spread only on the limited area of the stain.

Specifically for dosing and/or dispensing devices, said ball may bepreferably made of a material resistant to water, temperature (up to 95°C.). For example it is possible to use plastic materials, such as, forexample, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyurethane, or polyvinylchloride.

The ball (3) is manufactured separately from the hollow body (1). Thisball can be then inserted through said dispensing opening into saidflexible and resilient support means by simply pushing said ball throughthe lip (9) of said dispensing opening. This is possible, since said lip(9) of said dispensing opening is flexible enough to be at leastslightly elastically deformed, since said lip, part of the hollow bodyor of the flexible and resilient support means, is preferably made of aplastic material. The container (10) can also comprise more than oneball (3), held separately in different dispensing openings (2) or in acommon dispensing opening.

The flexible and resilient support means (4) for said ball is anotheressential feature of the present invention. Said flexible and resilientsupport means urges said ball (3) against said dispensing opening (2),achieving a tight engagement between said ball and said dispensingopening. Accordingly, said flexible and resilient support means closesthe dispensing opening with the cooperation of said ball. In a preferredembodiment, said flexible and resilient support means presses said ballagainst the most external rim or lip (9) of said dispensing opening. Wefound that the engagement between said opening (2) and said ball urgedby said flexible and resilient support means is leak tight for liquids.Therefore, it is possible to avoid leakage or spillage during theperiods of non-use of said container (10) without the cooperation of acap.

As a preferred option, said lip (9) of said flexible and resilientsupport means (4) is flexible or deformable. In this manner, theflexible or deformable lip is able to conform to and/or compensate forany imperfection in the shape of said ball, e.g. when said ball does nothave a perfect spherical shape. To achieve this, said flexible ordeformable lip may be made of a separate material attached to theperimeter of said dispensing opening. Said flexible or deformable lip ofsaid flexible and resilient support means may also be made byco-injecting a flexible or deformable material, like rubber, formingsaid lip together with a more rigid material for the rest of saidflexible and resilient support means. A flexible or deformable lip doesnot affect the strength and/or structure of said flexible and resilientsupport means.

Said flexible and resilient support means (4) is able to be resilientlydeformed by an external force acting on said ball (3). Accordingly, bypushing said ball to the inside of said container, said leak-tightengagement between said ball and said dispensing opening (2) isdisengaged. Consequently, said ball is free to rotate and able to spreadthe content, since the free passage between said lip (9) and said ballconnects the content with the protruding part of said ball. The freepassage between said lip (9) and said ball is hereinafter called"product flow passage". The leak-tight engagement is immediately andautomatically re-established once the external force stops to push saidball to the inside of said container. Consequently, the product flowpassage is closed interrupting the product flow from inside saidcontainer. No further feature, like a cap, is necessary to obtain aleak-tight engagement between said ball and said dispensing opening.

The flexible and resilient support means (4) according to the presentinvention allows to adapt the flow of product from the interior of saidcontainer. Indeed, the dimension of the passage between said lip (9) andsaid ball (3) can be adjusted by the user by varying the external forceexerted on said ball. Consequently, the amount of the product flow fromthe inside of said container can be controlled by varying the dimensionof said passage. Specifically, a greater product flow can be achieved bypressing said ball further inside said container. Furthermore, saidflexible and resilient support means in combination with a flexiblecontainer further allows to dispense or pour directly the product onto asurface by pressing onto said ball and squeezing said flexiblecontainer.

We found that the dimension of the passage between said lip (9) and saidball (3) can be varied without changing the displacement of said ballinside said container. Indeed, this may be done by choosing anappropriate relationship between the dimension of the diameter of saiddispensing opening (2) at said lip and the dimension of the diameter ofsaid ball. We further found that at a given perimeter of said lip, andpushing said ball inside said container at a constant displacement, agreater product flow passage can be achieved with a ball of greaterdiameter in respect to a ball of smaller diameter. The same reversedreasoning applies keeping the diameter of the ball constant and varyingthe perimeter of said lip. Explained in another way, having a smallerball (or greater perimeter of said lip), a greater displacement of theball is needed to have the same dimension of the product flow passage inrespect to a container with a greater ball (or smaller perimeter of saidlip).

This discovery is particularly useful to ensure leak-tightness to thecontainer according to the present invention for liquids of anyviscosity. Indeed, for liquids of low viscosity the dimension of theproduct flow passage does not need to be as great as for liquids ofhigher viscosity to achieve dispensing of a given quantity of spreadproduct. Therefore, considering the viscosity of the liquid product, thespread quantity can be optimized by defining the relationship lip-ballas described above. Nevertheless, changing the diameter of said ball maynecessitate slight adjustments of the dimension of said flexible andresilient support means.

We further found that said product flow passage allows that most of theproduct not applied onto a surface and remaining on the part of saidball protruding from said dispensing opening is able to return backinside said container. Otherwise, without a space defined by saidproduct flow passage, this rest-product would be scraped off by the edgeof said lip remaining outside and around said dispensing opening.Therefore, said product flow passage of the roll-on applicator accordingto the present invention considerably reduces waste and messiness ofproduct during use.

FIG. 1a shows an embodiment according to the present invention. Saidflexible and resilient support means (4) comprises a spring (5) locatedunder said ball (3). Said spring presses said ball (3) against saiddispensing opening (2) to achieve-said leak-tight engagement during theperiods of non-use of said container. By exerting a force F on said balltowards the inside of said container, said spring resiliently deformsand the desired product flow passage is created, as shown in FIG. 1b.Said spring may be separately attached or an integral part of saidhollow body (1). Furthermore, said spring may be made of any possiblematerial, such as, for example, metal or plastic. Said spring may haveany possible shape, such as, for example, helical or cylindrical.

As another preferred embodiment according to the present invention, saidflexible and resilient support means comprises in the region oppositesaid dispensing opening at least a resiliently deformable arm (6) urgingsaid ball against said dispensing opening (2) to achieve said leak-tightengagement. Said arm (6) may be bent at an angle α (FIG. 2a) to achievesaid resilient deformability. Preferably, α is between 0° deg and 90°deg. Preferably, said flexible and resilient support means comprises ahousing (4a) which fits the container and defines said dispensingopening at one extremity, as illustrated in FIG. 2b. The fitment of saidhousing to said container has to be leak-tight, but said fitment may bethreaded or snapped to said container. A threaded fitment of saidhousing to said container may have the advantage to allow an easyrefilling of said container by the user. Therefore, said flexible andresilient support means (4) may be made of a rigid or flexible housing,said housing supporting said spring (5) or said flexible arm (6) and maybe inserted into said dispensing opening (2).

As a more preferred embodiment according to the present invention, saidflexible and resilient support means (4) may comprise more than one saidresiliently deformable arm (6) as in FIG. 2b. And as a most preferredembodiment according to the present invention all of said arms areconnected together at a ring of contact or single point of contact (FIG.2b, 7) with said ball. Preferably, said single point of contact (7) withsaid ball is at the point of the ball which is most opposite to saiddispensing opening (2).

As a further preferred option, said flexible and resilient support means(4) may comprise, in its region opposite said dispensing opening (2), aninterrupted rim (8) against which the ball (3) is urged when an externalforce is applied. This means that said interrupted rim prevents thatsaid ball is pushed further inside said container. But because said rimis interrupted, i.e. said rim has at least one permanently open passagefor the content, the passage for the product flow is guaranteed.Therefore, said interrupted rim defines the maximum product flow passageallowed by said flexible and resilient support means. Furthermore, saidinterrupted rim impedes that said ball is pushed further inwards withthe risk to break said spring of said flexible and resilient supportmeans.

Said flexible and resilient support means (4) may be an integral part toor separated part to said container (10). Said flexible and resilientsupport means may be made of injection resins (like, for example,polypropylene, polyethylene, polyamide, polyoxymethylene) or elastomericpolymers like thermoplastic elastomers (for example, polyurethanerubber, isoprene rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber) or a combinationthereof. Furthermore, two or more stage injection of materials may beused to achieve a flexible and resilient support means having, forexample, an elastic spring combined with a rigid attachment feature.

FIG. 4 illustrates a possible embodiment according to the presentinvention, i.e. a dosing and/or dispensing device able to be placedinside a washing machine adapted for pretreatment. The pretreatmentmeans comprising said flexible and resilient support means (4) with saidball (3) is located in the bottom part of the device (10). Anotherpermanently open filling and dispensing opening (12) is on the top partof the same device. This dosing and/or dispensing device has saidpretreatment means located in the bottom part. Therefore, the level ofthe contained product is always above said pretreatment means.Therefore, the contained product comes automatically in contact withsaid ball (3), since the minimum level of the content is always higherthan said dispensing opening (2). In this manner, the liquid productneeds not to be poured towards said dispensing opening, so that thisdevice remains in a horizontal position during the pretreatmentoperation. Thus this arrangement provides an easy measuring and/orcontrolling of the amount of liquid detergent applied onto the fabricsduring the pretreatment. The measuring and/or controlling can be furtherfacilitated by the dosing lines (11). Nevertheless, the pretreatmentmeans can be easily located on the top part of device nearby the otherfilling and dispensing opening (12).

Gripping means (FIG. 4, 14) can also be provided in form of cavities,depressions or striations on the external surface of the hollow body(1). They facilitate in holding or even squeezing the device for thepretreatment. This type of means is easy to produce during the mouldingof the body of the device. Specific dimensions or shapes of the devicein general can be selected by any person skilled in the art.

We claim:
 1. A container (10) adapted to contain and dispense a product,said container comprising a hollow body (1), a filling opening (12), adispensing opening (2), a ball (3) and a flexible and resilient supportmeans (4) for said ball, wherein said flexible and resilient supportmeans urges said ball against said dispensing opening, achieving aleak-tight engagement between said ball and said dispensing opening,said flexible and resilient support means can be resiliently deformed byan external force acting on said ball whereby said leak-tight engagementbetween said ball and said dispensing opening is disengaged, allowingsaid contained product to be spread by said ball, said flexible andresilient support means (4) comprises a housing which fits the containerand defines said dispensing opening at one extremity, and said housingcomprising, in the region of the opposite extremity to said dispensingopening, at least a resiliently deformable arm (6) urging said bassagainst said dispensing opening (2) to achieve said leak-tightengagement and an interrupted rim (8) against which the ball (3) isurged when an external force is applied.
 2. A container (10) accordingto claim 1 wherein said flexible and resilient support means (4)comprises a spring (5) located under said ball (3), said spring pressingsaid ball (3) against said dispensing opening (2) to achieve saidleak-tight engagement during the periods of non-use of said container.3. A container (10) according to claim 1 wherein said flexible andresilient support means (4) comprises more than one of said arm (6) andall of said arms are connected together at a point of contact (7) withsaid ball.
 4. A container (10) according to claim 3 wherein said pointof contact (7) is at the point of the ball (3) which is most opposite tosaid dispensing opening (2).
 5. A container (10) according to claim 1wherein the lip (9) of said dispensing opening is deformable.
 6. Acontainer (10) according to claim 1 wherein said flexible and resilientsupport means is made of a material selected from the group consistingof: injected resins, elastomeric polymers and a combination thereof. 7.A container (10) according to claim 1 wherein said container is made ofa rigid or flexible material.
 8. A container (10) according to claim 1wherein said container can be a bottle or a tube.
 9. A container (10)according to claim 1 wherein said container can be a dosing and/ordispensing device.
 10. A container (10) according to claim 1 whereinsaid ball (3) is spherically shaped.